How warm a handshake would CNN's most well-known interviewer give to Holocaust denier David Irving? How hospitable a platform would be given to anti-Semite David Duke? For anti-Semite and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hand shake was very warm, and the platform was most hospitable.

A striking exchange among several guests on the October 15 edition of "Larry King Live" demonstrated the difference between a journalist who adds to viewers’ understanding of a dangerous world and King’s fawning avoidance of facts which may make his guests feel uncomfortable.

THUMBS DOWN to Larry King on CNN's May 30, 1995, "Larry King Live" for his fawning interview with Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, whose book promotion tour of the U.S. in May prompted a rash of obsequious exchanges with journalists.